Into the Woods
by Blue8
Summary: A new virus. A new Umbrella facility. A new threat. The same old situation with one exception; a leak has occured at an isolated school and mere children have to fight to survive thier contaminated school and the secret underground lab facility beneath it


Desert Eagle, P99 blackish, M9 sliver/black, P228 black, Harball II shotgun  
  
"Oh yeah, another boring day in health class!", groaned the brunette slouched in her seat.  
  
"Oh yeah, another boring day in health class", mimicked her impossibly tan friend seated next to her in an annoying and screechy voice.  
  
"Seriously, Ryan will you just shut it for once.", she yelled to the disapproval of her health teacher.  
  
"Oooh what are you gonna do, huh, flip me over your back or something. Right!", he chortled along with a few other students within earshot.  
  
"Yeah that's right everybody, I've been learning some new fighting techniques in class, and I've been waiting to try them out one some one", she said sarcastically as she slammed her head onto her desk.  
  
"Now everyone, that translates to, I learned some lame moves in Kung Fu", he announced putting special emphasis on the words Kung Fu, "and I'm gonna use it to kill everyone", he blurted before failing to dodge a well-aimed punch to his arm.  
  
"Look, Beth I'm sorry . But anyway, what are you doing tomorrow?", Ryan asked quietly as he rubbed his arm tenderly.  
  
"I have Kung Fu tomorrow", she replied with her head still on her desk, and after hearing the pregnant pause continued with, "And the day after that I have gymnastics, and then the day after that I'm going to the gym, and- ...".  
  
"Are you kidding me", and after a serious no from Beth he finished, "It sounds like your training to be a freaking spy or something! What about in the morning or something, maybe I could pick you up?  
  
"Sorry, I have ROTC. But, onto the next subject, how bout them Mariners", she stated lamely to the aggravated glances from her friends situated around her. "Okay, how about how much Kramer sucks?".  
  
"You know what Beth, I heard that, and I heard all of the rest of your disrespectful comments. I think it's time for some good old fashion time outside!", her health teacher barked harshly.  
  
"Oh come on Kramer, you know I'm kidding.", after a stony glare from her teacher she abandoned all hope of avoiding trouble, " Fine then Kramer, you know I'm not a bad kid, whatever, bye!", she practically screamed as she gathered all of her things in her bag.  
  
On the way to the door she growled sinisterly, and threw open the door. As an after thought she turned back around and saluted Ryan and the class in the traditional Kung Fu manner, with only one difference, she had her middle finger extended and a wicked grin on her face. Once she was satisfied with the indignation of the class she exited the room while attempting to slam the door shut. She didn't get very far, because of the school's superior doors, and only managed to scoot the process of the door shutting by a millisecond, as the pressurized air fought against her. She had hoped it go faster because she could still hear the complains from inside the class up until the door finally closed with a resounding "shwoop" sound of the airlock.  
  
"Damn new fangled doors", she yelled, kicking the door in indignation.  
  
She looked up and saw the new cameras that had just been installed winking in her direction, and chose that moment to stop kicking. She'd heard the rumors about the new security guards that had been sent from some big company that had replaced their old friendly ones, and she knew enough not to mess around with them. So, retiring to a peaceful state she slumped onto the ground outside the door.  
  
"This is sooo lame", she said to no one in particular, and after checking her watch, "Hey, first lunch is going on!".  
  
As she was getting up she glanced at the door and remembered the her teacher would find any excuse to give her a detention.  
  
"Well then, I'll just have to make my own freaking fun then", she said indignantly.  
  
She then proceeded to take out an assortment of items from her back pack, including her laptop she had just gotten, her CD player and her cell phone. After starting her computer, and placing her head phones on, she took her time in writing a text message to her best friend. It read :  
  
"HEY ALLIE. I JUST GOT IN TROUBLE WITH KRAMER AGAIN! WHAT ARE YOU UP TO IN TYPING?"  
  
Beth put her phone on her bare thighs, just below her skirt, and commenced signing online. She fumbled though because suddenly she was bathed in darkness. She thought she went temporarily blind, but realized it was the school lights after blinking and still seeing nothing. She could here the cries of indignation emanating from the nearby classrooms and faintly from the commons where students were eating lunch. It was a bit eerie where she was because of the fact that the windows provided no light whatsoever due to the current storm outside and that she was completely alone. The only light she had was coming off her computer screen, and then her cell phone as it beeped with a new incoming message. As she accepted the message the backup generator kicked in and the lights came back on. The new message read:  
  
"WHOA! WERE NOT DOING ANYTHING ANYMORE. WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OFF THE SERVERS WENT OFF LINE AND THEN ALL THE COMPUTERS SHUT OFF. MRS PARKINSON IS BEING A DOUCHE RIGHT NOW SO WERE JUST SITTING HERE!".  
  
"Ha ha doofus!", she chuckled nervously to herself as she stared down at her computer screen, "What am I doing, no one will be online, cuz everyone is at school, dur", she paused for a moment lost in thought, "And why am I talking to myself that's creepy.".  
  
She picked up her phone again and wrote:  
  
"I BET ALL THE COMPUTERS ARE OFF, I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT KRAMERS CLASS BUT SEEING AS IM LOCKED OUT AT THE MOMENT, I COULDNT TELL YAH!  
  
Before she even sent her message off again, her phone vibrated with another incoming message:  
  
"BETH SOMETHING IS GOING ON, I DONT KNOW WHAT BUT PARKINSON JUST TOLD US TO SHUT OFF OUR PHONES. I THINK WERE ABOUT TO GO INTO A LOCK DOWN OR SOMETHING. DO YOU SEE ANYTHING HAPPENING OUT THERE?".  
  
Alarmed, she wrote back hastily after checking up and down the hall:  
  
"NO I DONT SEE ANYTHING OUT HERE BUT I AM IN AN ALCOVE. WHY DIDN'T KRAMER COME OUT HERE AND GET ME, HE OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T CARE MUCH FOR ME ANYMORE. IS IT A DRILL?".  
  
She could feel tension begin in her shoulders, she knew this wasn't a drill. The computers shutting down and the server going out at the same time could be labeled as coincidence, but add in a school wide power outage and you got yourself some trouble. Her phone went off again and she picked it up hastily, hoping for any news:  
  
"DUDE BETH THIS IS CRAZY, PARKINSON THREATENED TO TAKE MY PHONE AWAY IF I DONT TURN IT OFF. SHE JUST GOT A PHONE CALL AND GOT ALL HYSTERICAL AND STARTED TO GO OFF ON PEOPLE. ME , SARA, AND CHANNY ARE WORRIED! SARA WAS GOING TO TEXT YOU BUT PARKINSON ALREADY TOOK HERS AWAY. SHES DUMB AND SOO NOT SNEAKY. YOUR TALKING TO ALL OF US NOW OKAY.  
  
She wrote back frantically with widened eyes. She wrote:  
  
"MAYBE SHES HAVING A NERVOUS BREAK DOWN OR SOMETHING. NO ONE AROUND HERE IS BEING LAME, BUT I CANT REALLY TELL. IM QUITE ALONE RIGHT NOW, TRY TO SNEAK OUT AND MEET ME AT THE THIRD FLOOR BATHROOM, K, IM ESCARED."  
  
"Shit", Bethany practically screamed when the power flicked back off again, "This is starting to get weird!".  
  
She took this opportunity to get up and feel her way to Mr. Kramer's door. "Wait, no I can't go back in, he'll keep me and I won't be able to meet them.", she chastised herself as she made her way back to the light her computer provided. The lights came back on again, but much dimmer this time. She used this time to begin to pack her stuff up. She turned off her CD player and was putting away her computer when her phone beeped again. She quickly turned it onto silent just in case, and checked the short hasty message:  
  
"OKAY HURRY MEET US THERE SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HURRY BETH BE CAREFUL WERE COMING NOW"  
  
"Wow", she murmured silently to herself, "Some shit is definitely hitting the fan.".  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The lights flicked on and off in the bathroom where an angry Chad sat waiting, "I am not gonna take a piss and have it go all over me if the freaking lights keep flickering off and on!", he yelled unhappily.  
  
"Shut up Chadley!", his friend called from within a bathroom stall, "You piss on yourself all the time!".  
  
"Up yours! I'm also having a bit of stage fright since my best friend is sitting next to me listening to me taking a piss!", he yelled.  
  
"You really should hurry up, the girls are gonna get scared and we all know we need a ladies man to comfort them, you should come too, you might just get some action finally!", he casually said coming out of the stall with a flush of the toilet muffling his last words.  
  
Chad still heard them and retorted, " Whatever, go and get some action as you call it, I still need to piss.".  
  
"Suit yourself lover.", he quipped about the fact that they went to the bathroom together, a fact that happened to bother Chad and make all the girls wonder.  
  
His friend exited the bathroom just as it was bathed in complete darkness. "Crap! I'm just gonna go, damn the consequences!", Chad yelled to no one in particular as he finally "went".  
  
He finished his business, and washed his hands. He felt for the door, finding the handle and shook violently, it was locked.  
  
"What the hell!", he bellowed, "I know what's going on, it's that damn new system the school got for no reason in particular. I liked it how it was before. Why are there som many freaking systems and backup systems? What does the lights going off have to do with all the doors locking.", he asked in rapid succession, even amazing himself at his temporarily opined nature.  
  
He kicked the door and slammed his back into it, sliding down resignedly.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bethany was becoming a little uncomfortable by this time. She had finally given up on the door to Kramer's room and had finally packed up hastily when the lights went off again.  
  
"This whole situation is creepy.", she said to herself to calm her nerves, "The lights and computers all go out including the server and to top that off we've got a raging storm outside!", she was cut off in mid-sentence when a fork of lightning streaked across a passing window, she didn't like lightning, "And now you add a little bit of the thunder and lightning and this could be counted as a murder mystery situation.".  
  
She sped her pace up eager to see anyone because of her nerves. She wasn't the type to be easily shaken, but lightning was her only weakness. Thunder rumbled overhead just as another fork of lightning illuminated the empty hallway before her. She quickened her pace and just as she rounded a corner, fell headlong over a garbage can.  
  
"Damn, shit, fuck, hell, bitch!", she screamed at the top of her lungs, picking up the garbage can she tripped over and throwing it into the nearest door.  
  
She reached down to retriever her bag just as she heard two things. Someone yelling for her, and the distant and agonizing screams of her obviously frantic peers emanating from the commons.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Damn, shit, fuck, hell, bitch!", was all Chad heard before the door he was leaning on buckled in slightly enough to hit him in the head.  
  
"Hey!", he yelled through the door, desperately hoping that whoever was on the other side would hear him, "Whoever you are, you gotta get me out of here! The door is locked!".  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
She had stopped all movement and stretched to hear down the hall, but the screaming had ceased and the yelling continued from behind the door, overloading her already stressed senses. She started towards it hoping to free the prisoner when her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She hastily grabbed it and saw:  
  
"ALL THE DOORS ARE LOCKED UP HERE! ITS DESERTED, MAYBE EVERYONE IS STILL IN LOCK DOWN MODE? WHAT SHOULD WE DO?"  
  
"Crap!", Beth yelled, afraid for her friends, "What am I supposed to do?", she yelled towards the door.  
  
An idea suddenly popped into her head. She had a small flashlight attached to her car keys. She pulled it out and as an afterthought grabbed her lock pick set in case she needed it. She flashed it towards where she thought the doorknob was, found it and heard a mechanical 'click' emanate from it.  
  
"Hey kid! The door is ...", she yelled before getting cut off by the sound of footsteps echoing from farther down the hall, "Who could be out here, Allison told me everything is deserted?".  
  
She stepped away from the door, hearing the door re-lock itself again as she turned off her light. She made a mental note that the door was cheaply activated by light as she moved slowly down the hall towards the sound and away from the door.  
  
She flattened herself against the lockers, and blended into the overabundant shadows as she heard the echoing of footsteps grow more intense, and more uniform.  
  
"It sounds like a freaking army march", she thought aloud just as the creator of the noise came around a corner along with a bright beam of light. It was just then that she got her first glimpse at what looked like their new security guards toting what looked liked M16's.  
  
"Holy shit!", she said quietly to herself as she backed towards the door.  
  
She backed up until she hit the door and frantically started to search for her key light. Finding it she flashed it at the door knob while trying to block out the residual light from the imposing army. She was counting the footsteps mechanically and knew that she had to hurry up, she had no idea what the guards intentions were.  
  
She heard the 'click' just seconds before hearing the straggled of yell of joy from the person within. She knew that if she didn't act quick, the guards would either see or hear them, and they were closing in on their position, just a mere twenty feet away. So she did the only thing she could think of that quick, she snatched open the door and reached forward and felt the callused hand of the person in front of her. Her other hand reached up to clasp the person's mouth shut, and after finding a bit of stubble, 'he' complied quickly and stopped talking. What she did next was merely a blur; she kicked her bag into the door seconds before her other foot lifted up and locked behind the boy's knee. She pushed all of her body weight forward, and found herself tumbling down in a heap as she heard the door shut and lock behind her.  
  
"What the hell are you doing!", she heard him whisper as he reached up to her chest and tried to push her off, after feeling something he hadn't expected he shouted, "Whoa, you're a girl, sorry about that. But what are you doing in our bathroom?".  
  
"Would you shut up!, if you didn't notice something bad is going down right now. Those new security guards are out there and they are packing! If I wouldn't have done that we might have gotten shot you idiot!", she whispered loudly.  
  
The seconds stretched out, as Beth realized that if the guards saw her, they would have been pounding down the door, and they weren't so she sighed loudly. Her body un-tensed and she realized as she grabbed for her bag, just what kind of position she landed with the stranger. An extremely firm, and familiarly good smelling stranger she added as an afterthought mentally. Her legs were sprawled out on either side of his torso, with his legs up and supporting her back and his hands rested, most likely unintentionally, on her hips. He didn't seem to mind the contact. She was only glad that the lights were off because he would have had a good view up her skirt otherwise.  
  
"Sorry though, about that. I didn't want them to see.", she said louder this time, as she prayed more quietly that the boy she was straddling wasn't ugly. She purposely scooted downward off the boy, intentionally rubbing her body up against him. She knew her intention was felt after she felt a slight shiver come off of him.  
  
"Well then, I guess I owe you at thank you. Do you have any idea what's going on though?", he asked, breaking off her thoughts of what he looked like, both in the light and naked.  
  
"Hmmm, oh well I actually have no idea. I got kicked out of my class and then all of a sudden the lights started to go all weird and stuff. My friend and I have been texting each other and she said her teacher was freaking out about something.", she muttered as she took out her phone with the intention of telling her stranded friends about how to get into the third floor bathroom. She wrote:  
  
"GUYS THE DOORS ARE SUPER CHEAP. THEY ARE LOCKED WHEN THE LIGHTS TURN OFF AND UNLOCK IF YOU SHINE LIGHT ON THEM OR SOMETHING. USE A LIGHTER OR A FLASHLIGHT IF YOU CAN FIND ONE. THERE IS SECURITY ALL OF THE PLACE AND THEY ARE PACKING. STAY OUT OF SIGHT AND WHEN YOU GET IN THE BATHROOM STAY THERE UNTIL I GET THERE."  
  
She stopped a moment, and remembered the screaming she had heard, "Hey umm, I also heard screaming before I busted in here. I don't know what the hell it was all about but it was really creepy.".  
  
"Wow, okay then. I think we should stay in her for a minute, just until things simmer down out there. What do you think?".  
  
"Yeah that sounds like.....", but she was suddenly cut off by a loud boom of thunder. She jumped slightly and felt her cell phone leave her hand and heard it crack onto the ground seconds later, "Shit!".  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chad's hand was still resting on her leg , which he found was bare, because she didn't seem to mind at all, so he just kept it there subconsciously trying to reassure her. She started to reply to his question when she was cut off by a sudden bout of thunder that shook the very ground they sat on. He felt her spasm under his hand, and heard the crack of something hitting the ground a few seconds before hearing her cuss.  
  
Maybe she's a bit jumpy he thought to himself, dismissing the possibility that she was afraid of thunder and lightning. He heard her scrabbling around, and wished that the lights would just come back on. He heard her sigh and then say, "Okay my cell phone is all right.", when another boom of thunder echoed through the bathroom. He also heard her what sounded like a whimper when suddenly she was much closer to him.  
  
The thought finally came to his head when he asked her, "Are you afraid of thunder and lightning or something?".  
  
"No way!", he heard her reply before another boom emanated from the sky. She quickly corrected herself. "Well, maybe just a little bit, but I'll kill you if you say anything!".  
  
"It's okay, I know someone else who is afraid of that kinda stuff, don't worry about it", he reassured her as he patted her hand. She reached up and held it there.  
  
His thoughts drifted to his ex-girlfriend, whom he was talking about, and he wondered if she was okay. She must be completely freaked out because of the lack of light and the addition of the thunder. They had broken up months before because of her lack of response, but they continued to like each other secretly until about a week ago. She had written him a note saying she still liked him, but since he had found someone else thinking she moved on, he had to shoot her down. He thought she hated him, but now obviously she did because every time he passed her in the hall she would avert her eyes. Why do I even care he thought to himself, why aren't I thinking of my friends or Megan he chastised. She hates me!  
  
"Who hates you?", he heard the girl ask him as he realized he said that part out loud.  
  
"Um, no one. Never mind". He said as he stood up. He heard her move, and thought that possibly she didn't want to be left alone on the ground so he reached down and grabbed her hand to pull her up with him.  
  
She shot up quickly and reached to pick her backpack up as she moved closer. He thought she smelled good as he leaned in closer , and felt his head smack into her cheek.  
  
"Ouch, what was that for? Were you trying to kiss me?", he heard her ask from closer than he expected.  
  
"Oh of course not, I just....", but he was cut off when a sudden red light came on and flashed in his eyes, temporarily blinding him. "Damn back up lights", he grumbled aloud, and after hearing no response he opened his eyes cautiously. What he saw dumbfounded him; none other than his ex, Bethany, stood mere inches away from him with an appalled look on her face. There was an explosion of mixed emotions as he looked at her genuinely beautiful, albeit shocked face. Her hand dropped abruptly from it's position on his chest and she started to slowly back away until she was at the wall. He reached towards her in a passive manner but she only shrinked farther away.  
  
He was at a loss for words because of the fact that they hadn't spoken a word to each other in over a month. "Hi.", he finally stated lamely, much to the chagrin of the still silent Bethany. She jumped again as they both heard thunder, and she looked ashamed of doing it. She had dropped her phone, but looked as though she didn't notice. She's gotta be in shock or something. I didn't hurt her that much he thought, as he saw her expression turn dark. Maybe I did.  
  
She looked down before simply stating, "Oh god!".  
  
He watched her fumble for the doorknob with out saying a word, and felt bad that he had reduced her to this by merely saying hi to her. I wish she would have told me how she felt earlier , things could have been different, he reflected to herself.  
  
He was about to apologize when she suddenly flung open the door, and with a flash of white from her snug shirt and brown from her swishing hair, she was gone.  
  
"Wait!", he yelled at the door before running to open it, "We have no idea what's going on or what's out there!".  
  
He stumbled on the phone she had left in the bathroom, and after picking it up and running outside, he found the eerily lit hallway completely devoid of his quarry. Wow, she freaking fast, and hella silent, he thought to himself. All he had left of her was her phone, and he clutched it tightly wishing she would appear again. He looked down and saw that it was illuminated with a received messeage, it read:  
  
"ALLRIGHT THEN BUT YOU BETTER HURRY YOUR ASS UP HERE. REMEMBER THE 3RD FLOOR B ROOM OKAY.  
  
"Well what the hell am I supposed to do now?", he asked himself still staring at the phone's screen.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Oh god.", she whispered to herself as she crept slowly along the halls, melding with the shadows and making almost no noise at all.  
  
So far she hadn't met anyone in the halls, which was strange even for a lock-down type of situation. At Kentlake, you could always find one or two straggling couples, taking advantage of the empty halls, and looking for a quiet closet to have some uninterrupted time together. She almost longed to see anyone, and wished that she hadn't ran away from Chad.  
  
Chad. I can't believe I almost kissed him! And all he had to say to me was hi! Hi, that was it. I can't belive th-....  
  
Her mental reverie was interrupted by a sudden, and extremely obtrusive shouting emanating from the door up ahead and to the right of her. The principles office she noted without satisfaction, a place she had been many times before. She tip toed up to the door, and ducked down behind a conveniently placed garbage can, and listened.  
  
"Not all of the students are in their classrooms Mr. Carter. I can't stress enough how severe this situation is. Any student outside of their classes will have to be dealt with. If we find any of them, then the Sergent and his team will take care of them.", the first voice said.  
  
There was a pregnant pause when suddenly her principles voice replied harshly, "Well, with you Umbrella bastards, I can only guess what your security team would do to my students. I want them out of here, and this situation cleared up!".  
  
"Umbrella, the same Umbrella that helped to rebuild our school?", Bethany whispered to herself. But she silenced any further questions when she heard the talking continue.  
  
"Well, I'm sorry to say that the solution isn't that simple. The caliber of the virus released will infect anyone it touches, whether directly or indirectly and there is no way for us to control it. It has already leaked throughout the underground lab facility and it is inevitable that it will spread into your precious school. Door B in the west corridor has already been breached for God's sake! The only solution is eradication, so I suggest that none of your students become infected, because we will not hesitate to kill anyone."  
  
"Holy shit, those guards WERE packing for us. What the hell kinda virus are they talking about? And how the hell did Umbrella and our school hide the fact that there is an Umbrella facility right under our fucking school", she whispered again hoarsely, stopping as she strained to hear the next bit of the conversation.  
  
"What do you mean? You make it seem as though it's spread more then just by air.", her principle paused as if he received the answer from the unknown man in a gesture, and her suspicions were proved when she heard his spluttered reply, "What! Well, you've already told me that my students are safest in their classes as long as the doors are kept locked, but there are so many variables that can come into play, for one the damn air vents that are connected to your facility! I think that it would be best if I just evacuated the school.".  
  
"No, that is out of the question, Carter! If we let the students out they will undoubtedly be apprehended by the problem in the west wing that is surely spreading as we speak! Just make an announcement to close the vents, and keep yourself somewhere where nothing can get to you. You still have a minimum of 10 minutes before the virus will even reach your facility, so you have plenty of time for counter measures. I'm having someone shut off all of the unnecessary systems in a matter of minutes, so I suggest locating a flashlight of some sort, you just may need it. For now I need to leave and attend to this as best I can before it gets too out of hand, but rest assured, Umbrella Inc. will take care of this problem."  
  
The door to the office she stood dangerously close to opened, just as she sank into the shadows. She peeked out to see a bald man in a crisp black suit walking briskly away from her on shiny and expensive looking black shoes, and towards her schools dreaded west wing. As he walked, he casually lifted up his jacked and pulled a small silver handgun out of the back of his pants, cocked it, and disappeared around the corner.  
  
"Wow, what kind of Umbrella Employee is convinced that they can combat a virus with a gun. I could have sworn that they're strictly in the business of bio-engineering and shit, he should know. Unless there's something else that's the matter. I need to get out of these halls and quick.", she thought aloud as she turned to leave.  
  
A crackle of static startled her into a passive state as she waited for an announcement over the intercoms to be made.  
  
"Attention students and staff, there is a minor complication unfolding in our school, as so we must all stay inside our classrooms. I now ask all staff members to-".  
  
Beth waited to hear the rest of the announcement, but only heard static followed by silence as the electrical systems obviously shut off. She could still hear her principle talking unknowingly into the intercom, until he stopped obviously satisfied that his vital information was relayed. She heard the door lock from the inside from behind her, and knew he had no idea that it wasn't heard. She rushed towards the door but before she reached it she heard the hollow sound of another door being shut behind this one. Her principle was gone. Just as she punched the door futilely, the lights shut off, plunging her in utter darkness.  
  
"Shit, no one has any idea what's about to come! I gotta find anyone in the halls and get somewhere safe, soon.", she stated bravely as she set off to the third floor, hoping to find anyone in between, and praying that Chad was smart enough to stay out of sight.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chad was just going up the stairwell that connected the first and second floors together, when he was stopped short by a slight moaning sound coming from further down the hall. He double backed, and strained to hear where the noise was coming from. The moaning became more frantic, just as the door to his left began to rattle slightly.  
  
"What the fuck?", he whispered, his hand stretching out for the door handle.  
  
The rattling intensified three-fold as the moaning increased in pitch. Anxious, he grasps the handle and in one swift move, turns it and yanks it open, ready for whatever horror lay inside.  
  
The horror that he found was not one that he expected, but a horror in itself; one of his friends and his girlfriend. And from the looks on their faces, they appear quite surprised that they were caught.  
  
"What the hell Chad. Thanks a lot!", his friend, Matt yelled as he scrambled to find his pants.  
  
Chad wasn't particularly paying attention because he was still in shock from seeing his friends hairy ass in the air, and now his naked girlfriend scrabbling to find her cloths.  
  
"Eyes up here, Chad!", she yelled as she waved her hand futilely in front of his face, hoping to bring his attention off of her chest.  
  
"Uh, sorry about that. I'll just wait outside, all right?", he stated without waiting for an answer as he slammed the door behind him.  
  
He shook his head from side to side, hoping to shake out the image that he just saw, and feeling like a voyeur almost.  
  
After waiting for too long, he became impatient, and took his free time to review Bethany's phone messages. He idly passed through the first few and found that most of them were between him and her. He smiled at the thought that she kept them as he found some of the more recent ones, until he reached the last one she sent her friends.  
  
"Shit, guys. There are security guards somewhere around here, and they have guns and bad intentions. We should go now.", he yelled through the door.  
  
It was opened seconds later, and his two flushed friends exited the janitor's closet.  
  
"How do you know about the guards or whatever?", Matt panted hoarsely.  
  
"I was just looking at the messages in Beth's phone", he said and paused because at the mention of her name his friend, Matt, smiled while Bethany's friend and Matt's girlfriend, Sam, frowned. He continued after shooting them puzzled looks, "and after seeing one I remembered that she said there was guards in the halls. She was nervous when she told me so I think I'll take her seriously. So, now were gonna head up to the third floor bathroom, and meet her and whoever her friends are there.", he said as he gestured toward the stairs.  
  
"Okay then, captain, let's go!", Matt stated sarcastically after placing a kiss on Sam's head, grabbing her hand and heading towards the stairs.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"How can we be lost, we've gone here all year!", whined Chandra as the three girls passed by the third floor stairs again.  
  
"We're not lost, I told you. We're looking for a way to get into the bathroom, still.", replied Allison impatiently.  
  
She had lost any semblance of patience as soon as the lights went out again for good, and the principle made only half of an announcement.  
  
"Well, if you would have told me this earlier, I could have helped. You never tell me anything damn it!", Chandra shouted back indignantly, "What do we need to get in?".  
  
"A lighter or a flashlight or something, and we gotta find it quick, Beth said to stay out of the halls. The new guards are out with a vengeance or something.".  
  
"I have a lighter you idiot! I've had one all along, and if you would have just filled us in on your little plan, we could have been in there an hour ago.", Sara shouted back as she reached into her purse.  
  
"Well, I didn't want to worry you guys. We have to-....", but what they had to do was quickly cut off when the crackle of a walkie-talkie came on down the hall, which was quickly answered by a gruff voice heading in their direction.  
  
"Shit, shit, shit! Hurry up Sara!", Chandra whispered desperately.  
  
As they suddenly heard footsteps. How did this guy get so close without us noticing? Allison thought as she pulled her two frantic friends closer to their sanctuary.  
  
The unknown man answered back into the walkie-talkie from closer then before, "Sir I don't see anything up in this wing. The specimens must not have got this far, I don't think they can climb stairs. I also haven't seen anyone live ones either. Over.".  
  
"Good, now report back to the lab. Use door A, so far that one hasn't been breached, and the air is clean there. All the remaining employees are there. You have only five minutes before the virus is released into the school so move your ass.".  
  
The first man seemed satisfied because he didn't answer back, he only came in their direction even faster, a mere ten feet away, and Sara still hadn't found her lighter yet.  
  
Impatient with her lack of speed, Chandra grabbed the purse, and dumped the contents in Sara's open hands. She found the lighter, and after shielding it with her hands, lit it up near where the door handle was. The still had a column of lockers between them and the man, but they had to move quick, as they saw a light beam sweep from side to side, from his position.  
  
The door made a mechanical clicking sound, and the three rushed in, seconds before the flashlight rested on a now closed door, and then retreating again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Fuck this, I need to get to the lab and quick. I dont want to get caught in that shit they call the TG-virus.", Paul Sheldon said to himself as he passed down the stairs, to the second floor and into the west wing of the enormous school.  
  
"Shit, what door was I supposed to use? Door B I think, well too bad, I'm already a floor above it. I'm not going back around, this place is like a maze.".  
  
He clicked off his flashlight, and tucked it into his belt next to his USP (a/n: Universal Semi-automatic pistol. I don't know much about guns, but I'll use a web site, and tell you what I'm talking about.). And patting it for good luck as a fork of lightning shot over a passing skylight. He reached the next set of stairs and descended them quickly, hoping he'd have enough time to catch lunch down in his section, and mentally cursing his boss for making them search the facility and above school. It wasn't his fault some idiotic scientist let that shit out, and not everyone should be punished for it.  
  
He reached the janitorial closet, and entered it after checking the eerily silent hall. He didn't bother shutting it, because of his need for the light from the windows, and clumsily made his way to the concealed door that was simply titled: Door B, West Wing, behind a shelf. He reached to his right, and perpetuated the stereotype that all secret doors have cheesy locks by pulling an extremely fake looking bottle of Windex down.  
  
The door in front of him split in half, as each broken section slid into the ceiling and the wall. When, all at once, Paul got a horrible feeling. The first thing he noticed was that the lights were off, and all he could see inside the rectangular door, was darkness and greater darkness. He also noticed the absence of the usual chit chat that immediately assaulted your ears when you entered the facility. Where the hell is everyone, and why isn't Arty here to greet me?  
  
He stepped through the thresh hold and felt the door close behind him, just as he got the first whiff of the most horrible thing he'd ever smelled before in his life. He'd been in Vietnam, and it smelled exactly like it had after a corpse rotted in the sun for days and days before being buried. What the hell is that?  
  
He'd taken a few steps into the room, and wish he hadn't because he started to feel anxious, when all he could hear was the blood pounding in his ears. He almost wished he could hear something because it started to feel like he was losing his senses, when he heard it; a shuffling noise. It was quiet at first, like it came from a long way away, but then the sound increased, not because it got closer, but because it seemed that the sound was growing in intensity, and he was able to distinguish more then one set of shuffling. One, two, ten more, all growing to a fevered pitch, when he couldn't stand it anymore.  
  
"Hello, Arty, Jacob, Samuel, is anyone there?", he called out feebly as he scrambled for the light tucked into his belt.  
  
"Ugh.", a guttural, sloppy sound replied, from somewhere to his left. 


End file.
